Staff given list of symptoms to demand doctor’s certificate
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will stop passengers suspected of having Swine flu from flying without a doctor’s certificate clearing them, the Times reports.
Passengers with headaches, sore throats and runny noses would be targeted by the airlines. BA said that some people displaying symptoms of H1N1 had been advised not to travel.
A spokesman for ABTA, which represents travel agents, said that the precautions were “sensible” and that travel insurance should cover the cost of cancellations caused by the virus.
Utter waste of time
But Peter Holden, the British Medical Association’s lead representative on pandemic flu was advising doctors not to issue the notes because they would not be worth the paper they were written on.
“It is a total and utter waste of time,” Dr Holden said. “A fit-note is only going to be valid at the moment of issue. You could easily become ill between leaving the GP’s surgery and reaching the airport. It flies in the face of government efforts to relieve pressure on doctors, and we have much more important work to do than this.”
Eight British schoolchildren on a trip to China are in hospital after contracting swine flu. More than 50 of their classmates and teachers are in quarantine in a hotel.
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